It is known to provide electronic equipment inside an enclosure in order to protect the electronic equipment from the environment and its mechanically and electrically negative effects, such as pollution from gasses, fluids and particles. The electronic equipment typically comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) with electronic components. Such an enclosure typically comprises first and second sections, typically a compartment section and a lid section, where a first sealing area is formed by the area where the compartment section and the lid section is meeting each other.
One or more electrical conductors are penetrating the enclosure to connect the electronic equipment inside the enclosure to electronic equipment outside the enclosure.
The transition between the different sections of the enclosure and the electrical conductors penetrating the enclosure needs to be sealed in order to prevent pollution from the outside environment into the enclosure. One known solution is to use glue to seal the transition of the different components.
The disadvantage of using glue is that it is not possible to disassemble the enclosure and electronic equipment from each other again. There will also be variations to the amount and distribution of the glue in the production process. With a design where the sealing needs to be a continuous sealing for both the electrical conductors and the enclosure sections, the assembly process of gluing has to be done in two steps. First the electrical conductors need to be glued to the enclosure. Then the lid section needs to be glued to both the conductors and the compartment section. The glue in the first assembly step will start curing before the glue is applied in the second assembly step. In the transition area where the two sealing loops meet each other the glue in the second assembly step needs to bond with the cured glue from the first assembly step and make a continues sealing. Often, the transition area has a weak bonding, since pores are likely to occur in this area. Moreover, hardened glue from the first assembly step may prevent a proper sealing of the lid section and the compartment section during the second assembly step.
In the case of using gaskets to seal between the components there is a challenge when both the enclosure parts and the electrical conductor's needs to be sealed with one continuous sealing solution. Using several gaskets for instance will cause unwanted transitions. The direction of the pressure applied to the gasket is also relevant to such a design. In many cases the assembly process requires a certain direction of movement in order to make the parts come correctly together.
The object of the invention is to provide an electronic enclosure device using a sealing solution optimized for an easy, fast and reliable assembly process and also the possibility to disassemble the product without damaging the components.
Another object is to ensure that the electronic enclosure device is enclosing the electronic equipment in a sufficient way during the entire lifetime of the electronic equipment. The expected lifetime for some types of electronic equipment, for example for electric vehicles, may be up to 15 years.
Yet another object is to achieve that the electronic equipment enclosed in the electronic enclosure device is correctly aligned with other equipment within the enclosure, i.e. that there should be no risk of the electronic equipment being moved during or after the above-mentioned assembly steps.